Archive for the ‘Tamil Nadu’ Category

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday said that the government was able to ensure that “no major disturbance is caused to public order and tranquility in the State.”

In his speech read out by the PWD Minister Durai Murugan at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security, Mr. Karunanidhi said: “The recent success we have had in apprehending certain dreaded Maoists and our constant and effective vigil of the coast line, in coordination with the Coast Guard and the navy have encouraged the State Police to function even more effectively.”

He said: “Tamil nadu is one of the few States with a separate ‘Q’ wing in the intelligence set up to monitor the activities of extremist organisations. The effective system of information gathering developed by this wing, has helped the State to keep activities of naxalites, Maoists, other fundamentalist groups under check.”

Mr. Karunanidhi said the State was equipped to tackle instances of hijacking, armed militancy, insurgency and kidnapping of VIPs for ransom.

Chennai, Dec 20: The Madras High Court today directed Tamil Nadu police to provide all necessary medical aid to five Maoists who were arrested in Theni district.

A division bench comprising Justice P D Dinakaran and Justice R Regupathy gave the directive on a habeas corpus petition filed by Haribabu, an advocate from Salem, seeking to produce Murugananthan, Mahalingam, Maruthu, Balamurugan and Lokesh before the court.

When the petition came up for hearing, Advocate Sankarasubbu, appearing for the petitioner, sought a direction to provide medical aid to the detenus and give permission to advocates to meet them.

The bench said, “We are of the considered opinion that immediate medical aid was more necessary than permitting the advocates to get instructions.”

“Hence the State Home Secretary, DGP, Additional DGP, Superintendent of Police, Theni, are directed to provide all necessary medical aid to the detenus immediately as deemed fit by the medical officer. Judicial magistrate, Andipatti, is directed to oversee the medical treatment that would be given to the detenus,” the bench said.

In his petition, Haribabu alleged the five were shot at from a close range.

Five of them were nabbed by police after an exchange of fire in Varushanadu, near Theni, yesterday. Two of them have been remanded to custody while three others were hospitalised. (Agencies)

THENI/CHENNAI: A special team comprising Special Task Force and police personnel arrested five suspected Maoists after a 45-minute gun battle on Varusanadu Hills in Theni district on Wednesday.

Three extremists and some police personnel were injured in the operation. Police sources said the team seized weapons from them.

The arrested were Mahalingam of Tirupattur in Vellore district, Marudhu alias Lenin of Manamadurai, Muruganandham of Vriddachalam, Sachin alias Yogesh of Chhattisgarh and Maran alias Balamurugan of Sellur in Madurai district. Mahalingam, Marudhu and Muruganandham, who received bullet injuries, were admitted to the Theni Government Medical College Hospital at Andipatti for treatment.

The Inspector-General of Police (South zone), Sanjeev Kumar and Deputy Inspector-General of Police R. Krishnamoorthy and Superintendent of Police (STF) Pon. Manickavel came to the hospital and conducted an inquiry.

Superintendent of Police R. Sudhakar said the gang led by Mahalingam had opened fire on the police and the STF team retaliated quickly. “Within 45 minutes, we surrounded them,” he said. Acting on a tip-off from school students, the team had been camping on Varusanadu Hills for the past one week and intensified search operation. Mr. Manickavel said the team had done its job.

Once again, the information provided by the public prompted the police to look out for naxalites. Director-General of Police P. Rajendran said that nearly 10 days ago, the public had informed the police about the movements of some persons who were carrying arms and distributing pamphlets. Suspecting something serious, the police launched a hunt in Varusanadu Hill areas in Theni district. In June this year, following information from the public, the police arrested three persons when they were attempting to start a naxalite training camp in Murugan Malai near Periyakulam.

Mr. Rajendran said only during the interrogation of the five would details regarding their place of stay and duration and their contacts would be known. The police might move court seeking police custody of the arrested persons. He said the Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch was in constant touch with the unit concerned in the neighbouring States and shared information as part of the anti-naxalite operations.

He said Nondi Palani alias Mahalingam was wanted in connection with a case of double murder in the Koodapattu police station limits in Vellore district in 1978 and had been absconding for the past 29 years. Arms, ammunition and explosive material were seized from the arrested persons.

Madurai, Dec 20: As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of eliminating the Naxal “virus’ today, four tiffin box-type mines and an equal number of country-made pistols and hand grenades, explosive chemicals and detonators were recovered from the five Maoists arrested during a police encounter.

The items seized from the Maoists including sulphur and pottassium chlorate chemicals were secured and deposited in a safe place, officials said, adding Naxalite literature and pamphlets distributed by them have already been recovered.

Top police officials visited the three Maoists, injured in an exchange of fire with police and convalescing in the Government Rajaji Hospitalhere after surgery to remove the bullets from their bodies.

The condition of the injured, operated last night, was stated to be stable, police said.

Three Maoists and two policemen were injured in the exchange of fire at Pallathur in Varushanadu, near Theni, yesterday.The policemen were injured when the maoists resisted arrest, leading to an exchange of fire.

The five Maoists were moving around in villages in the area when they were challenged and arrested. Two of them were remanded to custody while three were hospitalised.

Talking to mediapersons, IG (South Zone) Sanjeev Kumar said they were able to arrest the Naxalites only because of the cooperation extended by the public in general.

Officials said the three had shouted pro-Maoist slogans even when the police brought them to the hospital, suggesting they were hardcore Naxalites.

Mahalingam (52) was injured in the the left shoulder while Maruthu alias Lenin Kumar’s (27) left knee was pierced by the bullet. Murugananthan (25) suffered injuries in the stomach, officials said. Police officials said police came to know about the exact location of the Maoists through a farm worker grazing her cattle. She informed the people of Pudukottai, who, in turn informed the SP-CID. A police party, on reaching their hideout, asked the Maoists through the public address system to surrender.

But the Maoists, hiding in a sugarcane field at Pudukottai, near Varushnanadu, fired at the policemen, they said, adding police retaliated.

Police denied that it was an encounter, as alleged in a petition filed in the Madras High Court yesterday.

Two other Maoists, including Balamurugan (30) and Lokesh (31) of Chhattisgarh surrendered to the police.

Balamurugan and Lokesh were produced before the Andipatti magistrate and remanded to custody today.

Earlier, top police officials interrogated the extremists. Police said they had brought them to Madurai only because they felt that the Theni Government Hospital was not safe enough as it was a border district.

Police were confident that there were no more Maoist elements moving around in the hills bordering Kerala though search operations would continue in the area.

The Varushanadu area, a remote region bordering Kerala, witnessed a revival of Naxalite activity in recent months, leading to deployment of extra police contingents to contain their activities. (Agencies)

In a first of its kind of operation, a Special Task Force (STF) in Tamil Nadu has captured five Naxals in the state after TIMES NOW reported increased Naxal activities in the state.

The Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) managed to lay their hands on the group after a fierce gun battle that lasted for hours.

Three of the Maoists including the leader of the Naxal group have been seriously injured. The operation assumes significance because its the first time ever that reports of naxal activities have emerged from the state.

TIMES NOW had reported on the increase of Naxal activities in the state of Tamil Nadu after intelligence inputs had put the state police on alert.

MADURAI: Personnel of the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) have been combing the Megamalai Hills in Theni district for six suspected Maoists, after receiving information about their presence in Arugaveli village, located on the border of the hills. The newcomers reportedly asked a farmer for directions to the Sundara Magalinga Hills, an important Saivite pilgrimage centre on Tuesday.Villagers inform that the group also distributed pamphlets encouraging school children to take up arms against capitalists.

On being informed of the events, South Zone IG Sanjeev Kumar and Dindigul Range DIG Krishnamoorthy conducted enquiries at the village. Subsequently, five STF teams, led by ADSP Tirunavukarusu, launched search operations along five routes, namely from the Pilavakkal dam to Jothi estate, Varusanadu to Pattupootchi and Varusanadu to Upputhurai, while a 30-member police team led by Theni SP R Sudhakar searched the villages in the valley, including Arugaveli and Atthuparai, on Wednesday. “The combing operation for the suspected Maoists will continue till the area is declared free of extremists,” a highly-placed police officer said

THENI: Three suspected armed Maoists, including a woman, were arrested from a remote illage in southern Tamil Nadu while they were distributing pamphlets and holding roadside meetings calling for an “armed struggle”.

The trio was held on Tuesday after residents of Siraiparai village near Varushanaadu in this district complained that a group of five Maoists were calling upon locals to take up arms, police said.

A police party that rushed to the village arrested three of the extremists, but two others escaped.

The Maoists wore blue uniforms, carried weapons and reportedly moved freely in the district which bordered Kerala.

Police suspect the trio belongs to a banned Maoist outfit, which is trying to revive its activities in the state.

The pamphlets distributed by them advised farm labourers “not to carry spade and crow bar if they really wanted to enjoy the fruits of their hard work”.

In view of the increasing activity of Maoists, more than 100 police personnel from the striking force, bomb disposal wing and special police have been deployed in the area.

A top Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh and his wife were arrested in Chennai a few days ago.

Activities of Maoists had subsided in Tamil Nadu over a decade ago after an intense crackdown.

MINJUR: Lakshmi, a 50-year-old woman living in the northern suburbs of Chennai, will now think twice before getting tenants.

In late October, she had let out a part of her house on Bhajanai Koil Street in Pungamedu locality, to a couple from Andhra Pradesh for a period of 45 days.

On the 41st day, however, it emerged that the couple — Pandu Ranga Reddy and his wife Mari alias Madhavi — were most-wanted Naxalites in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. They had rented the house saying the wife needed regular treatment in Chennai for her recurring stomach pain.

Last Wednesday morning, when the couple took a bus bound for the city, the Andhra Pradesh police intercepted it at Melur and arrested Pandu. The police, however, did not notice Madhavi and she was left behind in the bus. When she got back home, the village head and the local councillor, P Durai, took her to the police saying her husband had been kidnapped.

After initial inquiry, the police said they could not trace any incident of kidnapping that had taken place on that day, and sent them back. Around midnight on Wednesday, police surrounded the usually quiet Pungamedu locality.

Acting on a tip-off from the Andhra police, they arrested Madhavi and sent her to Puzhal prison. “It was the first time we had seen such a huge police presence, that too at midnight. People here usually don’t let out their houses, but this couple managed because they said they were here for treatment,” Durai told Express.

Kanmani, a teenager who lives next to Lakshmi, said, “Their activities were not suspicious, but her husband would go missing for a few days in a week.”

Said Veeran, another resident: “Lakshmi is the only one in the area who can speak Telugu. Maybe that is why she let them stay, even against the wishes of her daughter and son-in-law.”

It was because of the language barrier that people there hardly spoke — and got to know the couple.

Confirming the arrest, Superintendent of Police Mr. Naveen Chand said Sagar would be produced in a court on Thursday.

Acting on some vital clues, Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) officials reportedly laid the trap and arrested him in Chennai in the morning. Local police, however, said that they have no information about the arrest in Chennai.

According to reliable information available here, SIB officials arrested two persons at Kandukur Tuesday night, and got the information that led to the arrest of Sagar in Chennai. Interestingly, P. Srisailam, one of the two persons arrested at Kandukur was an electronic media journalist from Hyderabad.

Sagar (45), who hails from Lakshmipuram village of Ardhaveedu mandal in Prakasam district, joined the extremist movement some 15 years ago. He rose to become Secretary of Nallamala Forest Divisional Committee (NFDC) operating in Prakasam district. He played a key role in almost all incidents that took place in the district like murders, destruction of property etc. After Maoists blasted a landmine in the heart of Ongole town targeting the then SP Mahesh Chandra Laddha in 2005, police tightened the leash on the extremist movement.

In quick succession, all the five leaders who participated in the landmine blast, were killed by police in different encounters.

The entire family of Sagar was dedicated to the movement. His mother, Lakshmamma was killed by police in an encounter. His sister, Bhulakshmi, was also a dalam member. While police state that she ran away with huge cash, Maoists claim that she was also killed in an encounter. His another sister, Ramulamma alias Padma, is still active in the movement and works as NFDC district committee member.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested the journalist and booked a case against him under the Public Security Act.

Madurai (PTI): A top Maoist leader in Tamil Nadu, who was arrested in July, has raised his voice against the Sethusamudram ship canal project, saying it will affect the livelyhood of lakhs of fishermen.

Sundaramurthy shouted slogans against the project when he was produced before a Magistrate’s court in Periyakulam in Theni district on Monday evening.

“We will oppose it (the sethu project)… It will affect livelyhood of 15 lakh fishermen,” he said.

Meanwhile, the magistrate extended till October 22 the remand of Sundaramurthy, who was arrested at Marugamalai in Theni district on July 9.

Other extremists including Velmurugan, Karthi, Balakrishnan, Muthuselvam and Palanivelu were also produced before the magistrate and remanded.

The magistrate did not accept their request to transfer them to Madurai jail from Tiruchirapalli.